Back in 1895, Stephen Crane — at age 24, no less — crafted a story of war that has resonated until today: Red Badge of Courage. And now it’s getting a graphic novel adaptation by Steve Cuzor, which hits stores this week from Abrams ComicArts.
“What’s fascinating about this novel is how modern it is, how non-judgmental Crane is,” Cuzor told Comic Book Club over email. “He’s absolutely not political. He doesn’t tell the story of a war, he doesn’t tell the story of a soldier, he tells the story of a soldier’s feelings. It’s the story of a personal disillusionment. It tells of fear, anguish, anger, cowardice, courage, and all the contradictions associated with these feelings. Everyone can relate to it.”
To find out more about the book, Cuzor’s take, and a trailer for the graphic novel, read (and watch) on.
Comic Book Club: Before we get into the book itself, what do you think explains the enduring appeal of Red Badge of Courage? And when did you first encounter the book?
Steve Cuzor: What’s fascinating about this novel is how modern it is, how non-judgmental Crane is. He’s absolutely not political. He doesn’t tell the story of a war, he doesn’t tell the story of a soldier, he tells the story of a soldier’s feelings. It’s the story of a personal disillusionment. It tells of fear, anguish, anger, cowardice, courage, and all the contradictions associated with these feelings. Everyone can relate to it. I’ve known about this book since I was 24-25, but I read it for the first time about ten years ago.
It seems on the surface to be an intrinsically American story, but you are not, and it clearly captured your attention – why is that?
I’d say it’s intrinsically a universal story. The fact that Crane sets it during the American Civil War makes it an American story, but that’s not what it’s about. What interests me in a story is human psychology and the complexity of human beings finding their place in the world and among others. if the scenery is breathtaking and lots of Western-style actions, then that’s the holy grail for me as a cartoonist.
What is your responsibility as an adapter of the material, particularly to a different medium like graphic novels? What do you need to keep no matter what? What is more easily excisable?
I only used what I felt was important in the novel. Henry’s anguish at not living up to the heroic soldier he had imagined himself to be. In the novel, the narrator is Stephen Crane. He speaks about the characters in the third person. I felt that this technique had become a little dated. So I created these interior dialogues so that Henry could converse with himself. In addition to the battle raging outside, Henry is experiencing a real inner battle. I kept to this guideline throughout my graphic novel. For me, the important thing was not to betray Crane’s spirit.
Did you look elsewhere for inspiration? I don’t think it’s a one to one, but these reminded me fondly of the old Classics Illustrated comics.
I’ve been making comics for 30 years, inheriting the school from which came Alex Toth, Alex Raymond, Harold Foster, Will Eisner and many others… Today, I want to show that you can tell psychologically rich stories with a drawing that takes a week to make a page. As I’m paid very well per page, I’m making the most of it, Ha Ha Ha!!!!
I was really struck by the use of color in this book… Every scene, or time of day is almost a flat color. How, and why did you approach the book this way?
This was a request from me to my wife, Meephe Versaevel, who makes the colors (we both work at home, which is convenient). There were two reasons for my monochrome request: firstly, I didn’t want to betray the black, white & grey inking work with all the existing lights. The second was that I didn’t want blue or gray uniforms, so as not to leave the reader wondering who’s winning and who’s losing the battle, and no green grass and blue skies, because war has only one color, that of dust, smoke and hell.
On the flip side, your characters are clear and defined, but everything else almost seems to fade like a memory. Was that the intention there?
In pitched battles like those of the Civil War, it’s important to remember that all the rifles in line fired at the same time, creating a wall of smoke and dust. No one could really see the guys on the other side. I wanted the reader to be on the ground with the soldiers too, to feel the same way. Crane never describes the battlefield in his novel, so I had to suggest things rather than show them. It’s very hard for a cartoonist to show without showing.
In general this is a very different style from your previous work on Black Jack… How did you approach growing/changing the look for this book? Or was this a natural extension of your earlier work?
To be honest with you, I made “Black Jack” 25 years ago. I’ve published other books in between, including “Quintett” “Lead Belly” “O’Boys” (inspired by Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn), XIII Mystery (T.6), and the latest graphic novel “Black Cotton Star” (translated in the US by Pegasus and about to be adapted by Hollywood). Over the years, my graphic style has evolved and my beard has turned white.
Now that you’ve tackled this adaptation, is that something you’d like to try again? Or are you back to your own, original work?
My next graphic novel is also an adaptation of a novel by Pierre Pelot (a French author). It’s set in 1836 in the Great Lakes region of America. It’s the story of five characters who form a group for the wrong reasons: to hunt a bear. They’ll never catch up with the bear during the hunt, but they’ll be caught up by their darker side and their past.
The Red Badge of Courage is in stores on May 13, 2025 from Abrams ComicArts.
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